Verticalism

This studio is an exploration of the possibilities that the T line, the MTA new subway line under construction beneath 2nd avenue, opens for implementing \”Verticalism\” and contemporary public space in Manhattan. Originally proposed in 1929, the new T line is schedule to open in 2014 and to be fully operative in 2020, connecting 125th Street in Harlem with the Lower Manhattan and reorganizing the public transportation in the East side of the island. The public investment that such infrastructure requires is only comparable to the projected real estate benefits that will redraw the blueprint of neighborhoods like el Barrio (East Harlem), Alphabet City or the Lower East Side. Taking advantage this future conditions, the students are asked to imagine and design models of development that substitute the omnipresent condominiums for cohabitations between institutional and residential typologies. The final goal is to test different vertiticalist strategies (super tall mix-use, bundle of towers, supper block, etc) in Manhattan. The sites will be defined by subway stations, traditional spaces of experimental cohabitations between public and private developments guarantors of an intense of public use. At least 60% of the program will be residential, while the rest will house traditionally expansive typologies (libraries, laboratories, prisons, cemeteries, observatories, aquariums, asylums, fashion institutes, universities, museums, parks, sport facilities, etc.) Prerequisites: Architectural background and advanced digital skills.